Lakshmibai Tilak


Lakshmibai Tilak was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.

Life

According to the social custom of her times, after her receiving limited formal education, she was married off by her parents at her age 11 to Narayan Waman Tilak.
Narayan Waman Tilak was an accomplished Marathi poet. When he converted to Christianity, she at first was shocked. Gradually, however, she overcame her distaste, and eventually became a Christian herself. She tells this story with great simplicity in Agadi Step by Step. With his encouragement, despite her limited formal education, Lakshmibai too composed some superb poetry. Further, she wrote her autobiography under the title Smruti Chitre, which turned out to be a masterpiece in Marathi literature. The autobiography was published in four parts during 1934 -1937. In 1950, E. Josephine Inkster translated it into English under the title I Follow After.
Narayan Waman Tilak started to compose in Marathi an epic titled "Khristayana" describing the works of Jesus Christ. However, he died after finishing ten of its chapters. Lakshmibai completed the epic by adding to it 64 chapters of her own.

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